Alexandra is the only township under the city council where refuse is collected everyday, but still it remains one of the filthiest cities in the country.
Pikitup crews move through the streets daily collecting waste in refuse bags, but there is no change as residents are alleged to dump immediately thereafter. This leaves the refuse open for scavenging by dogs and becomes a breeding ground for rats which attack children and spread disease.
The city’s environmental health is calling for drastic attitudinal change to improve the health and hygiene of the area. Region E health director Vusi Mazibuko said any improvement in the area’s environmental health will depend on change in resident’s attitudes to their own personal health and hygiene, which wasn’t evident at the moment.
Mazibuko said this was despite numerous and ongoing environmental health campaigns conducted throughout the year.”There should be a drastic change of attitude about hygiene through clean sanitation at homes, emptying of dirty grey water in appropriate ways and places, and eliminating clutter where rats prefer to breed.” He stressed that residents needed to take matters of health into their own hands with the city’s environmental health supporting them through regular radio programmes on hygiene and health promoters who conduct occasional workshops. “Also, there is a need to have health activists among residents and support to the community development workers who clean the streets and for the media to assist in the publicising of health campaigns and the distribution of pamphlets.”
Mazibuko also said the clinic at 8 Avenue which was damaged in the 2014 national and provincial elections riots has been reopened and is operating with state-of-the-art equipment and that other clinic are to be upgraded this year. “A tender will be advertised this month for a R4 million upgrading of the Thoko Mngoma Clinic and another in February for the construction of a new R30 million clinic in Eastbank/Riverpark.
Details: Region E, Department of Health; 011 582 1400.
